Turkana residents facing hunger will soon benefit from relief food donated by the national government, Turkana Deputy Governor John Erus has said.
Last week, President William Ruto flagged off food aid to drought stricken counties across the country.
The 50 trucks leaving State House contained 20,000 bags of rice, 20,000 bags of beans, cooking oil and assorted animal feed.
He announced that 23 counties are suffering severe effects of drought
Deputy Governor Erus had attended the meeting chaired by Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua with governors from counties affected by drought to discuss immediate intervention measures to save lives.ecounties in Kenya worst affected by the drought.
More than 600,000 people are at risk of starvation due to devastating drought in Turkana, the county administration has said.
Erus has assured residents the government will soon roll out more relief distribution once all food items is delivered.
“Relief food flagged off by President William Ruto recently is on the way and will be followed thereafter by county relief food. We are working hard to ensure the food is available to cushion our people who are affected by the drought with water scarcity and lack of pasture for livestock,” he said.
Erus spoke in Kapua, Kalokol ward on Saturday when he launched distribution of relief food donated by Evangelist Ezekiel Odero of the New Life Church, Mombasa.
Pastor Ezekiel said the exercise was a philanthropic move by the church to support families’ hard-hit by the drought within Turkana Central.
He donated 118 tonnes of relief food, which benefited more than 30,900 families in the sub-county.
Deputy Governor Erus revealed that the Evangelist had met Governor Lomorukai recently in Mombasa where he promised to deliver relief food to support emergency relief efforts.
Pastor Ezekiel distributed relief food to residents of Kapua, Kalotum, Kang’agetei, Loreng’elup, Napetao and Nadapal villages.
Mary Ekeno, a resident of Kapua and beneficiary of relief food praised pastor Ezekiel's efforts to donate.
She has urged both the county and national governments to provide water and food to the affected families as drought continues to ravage the region.
“We are still experiencing drought in the region. It has affected our of livelihoods that we depend on for survival. Our livestock are emaciated and they will soon die if they don’t get water and pasture,” he said.
Joseph Etir, a resident of Kapua has called the government, humanitarian agencies and well-wishers to donate more relief food to the hunger stricken families to save lives.
"The drought is biting due to the prevailing situation of depressed rains or lack of rainfall in the past four consecutive years," he said
He said, as a result of drought last year he lost more than 100 animals through drought.
He has called the government and humanitarian agencies to initiate cash transfer and offtake programmes of livestock to save them from incurring heavy losses.
(Edited by V. Graham)
